


With Forgotten Truths Upon My Breath

by catteo



Category: The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-21
Updated: 2012-11-21
Packaged: 2017-11-19 04:41:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 367
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/569207
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/catteo/pseuds/catteo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written for the prompt <i>I never meant to hurt you, you have to believe me; I wasn't thinking about you at all</i></p>
            </blockquote>





	With Forgotten Truths Upon My Breath

_Webs of brutal purple and black caress their way up his brother’s arm, twining like lovers around vessels and nerves. He fears it’s not simply a trick of the light that paints shades of acceptance across Damon’s face._

She’s standing in the half-light with hope shining bright on her face. He hasn’t been this close to her for months. It’s intoxicating, her smell, the nearness of her. He breathes in the iron salt taste, drifting towards him in the darkness. He doesn’t let himself see her. Closes his eyes as he sends her away.

_The scent of death hovers softly in the air, caressing his brother with feather-light wings. For long moments he can hardly breathe, fear an agonizing weight in his chest. He prays that Damon can’t see it on his face, knows at a glance that lifetimes have made him no better at hiding the truth from his own blood._

He finally tastes her, gorges himself on the familiar sweetness slipping across his tongue. Firm hands rip him away, the wrong voice murmurs its claim on him.

_Brother_

Whispered endearments and pleas mean little to him now. A faint emotion drifts across his mind as she begs him to come back. It slips away, elusive, ghostlike. He can’t understand the tears he sees on her face.

_His brother taunts him, the heady scent of decay on his breath. He doesn’t want to be a hero, just can’t fathom how his Damon could dare to leave him behind. He fights for redemption, wins the battle but loses a war. Gives away the only thing he has ever truly earned. Does it for them both._

It happens at once, memories crashing over him, waves in an ocean of sorrow, emotion so intense it nearly brings him to his knees. She’s stronger than he remembers, fierce hope in her eyes. He can see the hurt he has caused in the shadows on her face, hear pain hovering at the ragged edges of her voice. He wonders if she can feel the grief etched into the lines on his face, hear the regret for a choice he never really had, the unspoken farewell echoing on the night air.

_Goodbye._


End file.
